Discussing the UWCC's worker co-op governance report, released this April.(see here: https://resources.uwcc.wisc.edu/Worker/CGRI_Worker%20Co-op_Final.pdf) and any other topics that come to mind

GEO Live 17-Worker Co-op Governance Report

Jim Johnson and John McNamara, two of the co-founders of the Democracy At Work Network (DAWN), joined our monthly livestream to share the history of this worker co-op peer support network that was conceived, built, and run by worker-owners across the US. DAWN provided training for worker-owners to become peer-advisors and help shepherd fledgling worker co-ops into existence. Despite its successful operation and low-overhead, the USFWC decided to abruptly end funding for the group in 2018. Jim and John walk us through the details of how DAWN functioned in its heyday, and some of the lessons they took away from both its successes and its eventual shuttering.

Visit our website: https://geo.coop 

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.geo.coop/subscription/form

Make a contribution to GEO (tax-deductible in the US): https://geo.coop/donate

GEO Live 18-Remembering The Democracy At Work Network

AfricaNow! September 18, 2024 Land, Food and Freedom with Georie Bryant

Topic and Guest: Today the show focuses on land, food and freedom.  In the conversation which you will hear next is a de/linking of the capitalist logic of land as private property, food as African indigenous knowledge practices, and communes and cooperatives outside of capitalist interpretations. In short, we explore African indigenous relationships with land and food as means to freedom.

Georie Bryant is a community organizer, chef, and agriculturalist native to Durham, N.C. Working both through his organization SymBodied and in collaboration with other organizations in the region, Georie seeks to address issues of historical and contemporary oppression, particularly those centered around food insecurity, cultural erasure and appropriation.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW: intro--“EQUINOX” BY JOHN COLTRANE commemorating John Coltrane’s birthday (September 23, 1926—July 17, 1967) Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere September 22, 2024; break--“KURIMA (TO PLOUGH OR TO FARM)” BY CHOWONISO MARAIRE; sign-off--“AUTUMN LEAVES” BY CANNONBALL ADDERLEY commemorating Cannonball Adderley’s birthday (September 15, 1928—August 8, 1975); closing song--“WE ARE ONE” BY MAZE FT. FRANKIE BEVERLY remembering Frankie Beverly who joined the ancestors on September 10 (December 6, 1946--September 10, 2024).

Support AfricaNow! and your community station WPFW during.  Donate online visit pledge.wpfwfm.org/index.php and then on Step 1: Contribution scroll down to AfricaNow! to make your donation to the show. Or on our CashApp, which is $WPFWFM write it is for AfricaNow! and include your email address. Thank you.

Originally broadcast on WPFW 89.3FM, Washington, DC. Tune into AfricaNow! live on WPFW 89.3 FM in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area or visit www.wpfwfm.org on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 2:00PM (U.S. Eastern).

AfricaNow! Sep. 18, 2024 Land, Food and Freedom with Georie Bryant

Article: https://geo.coop/articles/back-basics-aligning-our-national-organizations-co-op-principles

Visit our website: https://geo.coop 

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.geo.coop/subscription/form

Make a contribution to GEO (tax-deductible in the US): https://geo.coop/donate

GEO Live 19-Back to Basics

Catch up on information you might have missed during the week.
This week's programme features:

-	BGIS podcast Jus’ ah Conversation Episode 1: From Seed to table: How we can Empower Barbadians to Grow Their Own Food? 
-	Shopping tips from the Fair Trading Commission
-	Road safety tips
-	Christmas shopping at cooperatives

This week In Case You Missed It Opportunities – (December 18 - 24):
TEACHING VACANCIES
VACANCY FOR A CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER
SCHOLARSHIPS TO CHINA
PROPIANO CARIBBEAN COMPETITION

To download a copy of these opportunities, go to https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/download/in-case-you-missed-it-dec-18-24-2024/

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT DEC 18 - 24

Enabled by provisions in the JOBS Act of 2012 that allow smaller scale investing, community members are becoming co-owners of local real estate projects. Sandra Larson reports for Shelterforce.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/09/09/crowdfunded-real-estate-projects-bring-in-community-investors/

Crowdfunded Real Estate Projects Bring in Community Investors

Mari Nishitani visited two Women's Co-ops in Nepal, one run by an NGO, and one a grassroots effort by Dalit women. 

Text version: https://geo.coop/articles/reimagining-ngo-relationships-cooperatives

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.geo.coop/subscription/form

Make a contribution to GEO (tax-deductible in the US): https://geo.coop/donate

Women's Co-ops & NGOs in Rural Nepal | by Mari Nishitani

In this episode, we conclude the building block of delivery and provision of social protection from our social protection solar system. After discussing the role of informal workers’ organizations in the delivery of childcare and healthcare, in this third and final episode of the series, we will talk about the role of informal workers organizations in the delivery of social security benefit for workers in the informal economy. 

In Costa Rica, an innovative approach to social security has been implemented over the years by the national government to include rural workers and, more recently, informal urban workers. In this policy, grassroots workers’ organizations play a key role not only in the last mile delivery, but in several stages of the delivery chain. To learn more how Collective Social Insurance Agreements work in Costa Rica, their challenges and potential for expansion and replication, I talked to Fabio Durán.

Fabio is an economist and served as Head of the Public Finance, Actuarial and Statistics Unit at ILO’s Social Protection Department in Geneva, and has just retired as the ILO’s senior specialist in Social Protection and Economic Development for Central America and Mexico, in their office in Costa Rica.


Learn more:

*ILO Social Protection in Action Brief (2022). “Costa Rica: Extending mandatory contributory coverage to self-employed workers” https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/Media.action;jsessionid=f0DRZHXKIdUdf6eojX2c2lHKIAjQ_ly9Vx3-0XTMVPqdPICPNIgp!1393577045?id=19457#:~:text=These%20agreements%20are%20signed%20by,and%20medium%2D%20scale%20farmers%CA%BC%20organizations

*ILO Report (2013) – “Innovations in extending social insurance  coverage to independent workers” https://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/gess/RessourcePDF.action?ressource.ressourceId=42119 


#46 Expanding social security delivery to informal workers

Shelterforce is nonprofit news publication that covers affordable housing in the U.S., as well as community planning, racial equity, community development, and more. Here you can listen to authors read their latest Shelterforce articles, as well as our interviews with folks on the ground. For more, go to shelterforce.org.

To support our nonprofit newsroom, make a tax-deductible donation at https://shelterforce.org/donate.

Globally, 2 billion people work in the informal economy. This means that 61% of workers rely on work that offers little pay and few protections. Women informal workers, such as domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers are at the base of the economic pyramid with the highest risk of poverty.  Public policies and social protection schemes often do not consider these  workers, leaving them vulnerable to income losses and struggling to cope after an event or shock. In this monthly podcast we will discuss some of the most pressing issues related to social protection from the perspective of informal workers, including debates around the future of work, demographic changes and the informal economy, as well as  social services, like child care and health that can protect informal workers’ incomes. Subscribe to the “Informal Economy Podcast: Social Protection” to learn more about WIEGO’s cutting-edge research and hear from informal workers organisations about the debates, policies, successes and challenges they face in accessing and reforming social protection systems.

The Barbados Government Information Service has been established since 1958 as the Barbados Government's public relations and information arm.   This dynamic channel profiles Barbadian people, places and programmes which make up this Caribbean island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.  We hope you enjoy and feel free to comment.  We want to hear from you.

New tracks tagged #cooperatives